In a speech in Denver, Colo., on Friday, the member of the Securities and Exchange Commission said there are investment advisers and brokers that have been able to jump from one disreputable firm to another, and hide behind filings to remain in the financial industry.

He said an “astounding” 20% of the 600,000 plus actively licensed registered representatives have between one and five disclosures for items such as customer complaints, regulatory violations, terminations, bankruptcy, judgments, and liens. One active—and currently employed—registered rep has disclosed 96 customer complaints and disputes. He said there are plenty of bad apples among the 11,000 investment advisers, though the regulator has not spotted as many because it trains more resources on brokers.

“They are, to be blunt, cockroaches, and it is in all our interests to purge them from our markets,” said Gallagher in a speech to the Rocky Mountain Securities Conference.

Gallagher, a Republican, said progress has been made but the agency needs to take aggressive action on permanently expelling the worst offenders from the securities industry.

He said “scoundrels” abuse the privilege of working in the industry and in some cases directly impact retail, “mom and pop” investors.

Here’s more from Gallagher’s speech:

As a federal agency charged with protecting investors, the SEC needs to make such existential threats—and, where appropriate, deliver on them—in the most egregious circumstances. Otherwise, the cockroaches of the industry will continue to abuse the system, shrugging off the well-meaning but all too often ineffective remedial actions taken against them.